A Broken Covenant - The politics of Sheffield’s commemorative WW1 street trees

A residential avenue in Sheffield became one of the most divisive focal points in the protests against tree felling in Sheffield when a century-old memorial to soldiers who died during the First World War was threatened with felling. At the same time, other commemorative avenues planted during and after the war were also earmarked for removal and as a conciliatory gesture, new memorial avenues to the War were proposed in Sheffield’s parks. Yet the replacement of old with new presents more issues than it resolves: how legible would the new plantings be? Is it possible to ‘move’ a living memorial? And was the act of commemoration most meaningful in its first inception at the end of the conflict one hundred years ago? This talk frames the trees of Western Road within pre- and post-war attitudes towards tree planting, afforestation, and living memorials in Sheffield and beyond, and asks what lessons can be learned for their future care and maintenance.